The center is asking hospitals to release survival data after organ transplants
Representative image. | Photo credit: Getty Images/iStockphotos
The Union Ministry of Health and Welfare has asked state governments to direct registered organ transplant hospitals to disclose transplant survival data and publish it on their websites.
Data is being collected for the first time on a scale to reveal the success of transplant operations, particularly kidney, lung and heart transplants, and the life expectancy of those who receive the organs. The results are expected to help transplant patients make a decision or choice. Hospitals are told to strictly adhere to informed consent requirements and ensure that all relevant information regarding transplant procedures, risks and outcomes is adequately communicated to patients and their families.
In a note to state and union territory health ministers, the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO), which operates under the Directorate General of Health Services, referred to a letter by Dakshina Kannada MP Brijesh Chowta on the need for increased transparency and accountability in kidney transplant outcomes.
The MP emphasized the need for monitoring long-term transplant outcomes, including graft survival, complications and mortality, as well as publication of post-transplant survival data by hospitals and strict adherence to informed consent and patient communication protocols.
NOTTO maintains the National Register of Organ and Tissue Transplantation, which includes data on kidney donors and recipients. Its director, Anil Kumar, said in a note that regular and comprehensive reporting of post-transplant data will strengthen monitoring of transplant outcomes, improve traceability and support evidence-based policy decisions.
Display on websites
Registered transplant hospitals across the country have been told to display vital data on the home page of their respective websites. The process was part of initiatives to strengthen transparency, accountability and tracking of organ transplant outcomes nationwide. Asked for his views, a senior transplant surgeon in Chennai said that crude mortality rates have very limited informational value for individual patients looking to choose between hospitals. “Until risk-stratified mortality results are available that are properly and unbiasedly scrutinized from both public and private hospitals, it will be almost impossible to make informed decisions,” he said.
The data hospitals have been told to publish — the number of patients alive at six months, one year, three years and five years — will be difficult to collect because there is no mechanism for such tracking, he said. “Deaths after transplant occur for various reasons such as age, co-morbidities and other risk factors. Even if post-survival data is shared by hospitals, it will be challenging to verify the veracity of the claims,” he said.
Published – 26 Jun 2026 21:47 IST